Friday, August 30, 2019

Energizing Mint Soap Recipe

Wake up your senses with homemade Energizing Mint Soap.

Mint and ginger is the perfect combination to wake up your senses in the morning.
Phot by Fotolia


A perfect gift for a sleepyhead, this combination of mint and ginger is guarantee
 to wake up the senses during a morning shower.
Materials
• Metal or silicone cake pans, or soap molds
• Sweet almond or peanut oil, for greasing molds
Ingredients
• 7 ounces glycerin melt-and-mold soap base
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 5 drops peppermint oil
Instructions
1. Lightly but thoroughly grease the molds with oil, or line molds with parchment paper or muffin liners.
2. Grate soap coarsely and place in a heat-proof bowl large enough to fit over a saucepan. Place bowl over a pan of barely simmering water—the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Melt soap, stirring from time to time, until it’s liquid and well-blended. Remove bowl from heat. Stir in mint, ginger and peppermint oil and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour liquid soap into a glass measuring cup and then into greased or lined molds. Rap molds gently on the worktop to eliminate air bubbles (not necessary if you are using silicone molds) and leave to set for at least 4 hours.
4. If you’re using silicone molds, simply press the soaps out. If using metal molds, use a small, sharp knife to help ease them out. Leave in a cool, dry place for 3 to 4 weeks to “cure” or harden before using. Makes about 4 soap bars.
Discover how easy soap making is and find more recipes in Make It, Don’t Buy It: Simple Homemade Soaps.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Freshline Gourmet

Tasting Notes and Food Pairings:
This is a Unique Extra Virgin Olive Oil with an extremely low acidity, consistently below 0.3% (commonly below 0.2%) and of a very bright vivid green colour. Moreover, it has a full, fruity, fresh green olive flavour with a very slight pleasant peppery bite in the back of your throat. This peppery finish is an indication of a fresh (newest crop) and very carefully processed olive oil extracted from healthy, fresh ripe olives.

This elegant and harmonious taste, satisfies consumers that desire a natural and very tasty diet.
Ideal for dressings, appetizers, dips, sauces, marinades, salads, hot bread and bruschetta, fried food, fish and raw vegetables. In other words, our Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a superb condiment for any dish while it is suitable for any raw use and for every kind of cooking.
Fruitiness: Robust

Company Background:

Freshline Gourmet was created by I.C.B. Services Ltd, a company with a vision to bring health and longevity in all the family tables of the world by providing them with one of the most delicious and premium quality Extra Virgin Olive Oils of Greece. Our carefully selected extra virgin olive oil is of such a high quality that for a long time the greek growers themselves kept it for their own consumption while other European Olive Oil producers import it to blend it with their oil to improve its quality.
I.C.B. Services Ltd was established in Cyprus at the beginning of 2008 by a group of Greek-Cypriot food experts.

The combination of our great passion for olive oil together with the wide ranging experiences acquired through the inspections and certifications of producers of the finest extra virgin olive oils from all olive oil producing areas of Greece, persuaded us to engage in the production on our behalf of one of the best quality extra virgin olive oils of Greece under the brand “Freshline Gourmet”. We wanted in this way to give the chance to the whole world to be able to enjoy this unique extra virgin olive oil which was until recently enjoyed only by very few priviledged Greek families.

After a very carefull selection process it was decided that our extra virgin olive oil will be sourced from specific selected small growers of Kalamata from the famous Koroneiki Variety Olive Groves of the Mountains of Messenia in Greece, a place well known for its tradition in Olive harvesting throughout the centuries.

Our Competitive Advantages:
We offer an extra virgin olive oil of unique quality with acidity between 0.1-0.3% (commonly below 0.2%) at a great value for money and at an attractive packaging and label design.

Our Food Experts have more than 100 years combined experience in olive tree caring, olive harvesting, olive mills, olive crushing and extraction techniques and have worked in the most senior positions at olive oil markets across the Mediterranean.
Most importantly, we are in a position to guarantee and certify the superior quality of our extra virgin olive oil due to the fact that our food experts are themselves constantly monitoring each one of the stages of production of our olive oil, from olive tree caring to the bottling stage.
We have a wide team of experts such as chemical engineers, packaging and process engineers, agronomists, veterinareans, chemists and a chef and can design products/tastes/packs according to customer requirements.
We offer our extra virgin olive oil under our own label and under private labelling.

Lastly, the following certificates have been granted for our Extra Virgin Olive Oil:

•Certificate of Origin and Cultivar

•ISO 22000:2005

•ISO 9001:2008

•Certificate of Operation of a Food Safety and Quality Management System of production of Cold Extracted Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Production Methods:
Trees: The Olive Trees, some of which are more than 700 years old, are meticulously prepared for harvest and grealty cared for. They are annualy pruned lightly by hand, they are watered appropriately while all the necessary practices are taken in order to prevent the trees from getting diseases and to ensure their health as well as the quality of their olive fruit.

Olive Harvesting Period: The harvest of olives takes place early in the season from October to early December, when the olives are at a perfect stage of ripeness. This early harvest results in Freshline Gourmet’s vivid green color as well as its uniquely distinctive flavor.

Olive Collection Method: Only the best green olives belonging 100% to the Koroneiki Variety are very carefully selected for the extraction of Freshline Gourmet Extra Virgin Olive Oil. These very special olives are hand picked one by one directly from the tree, at the prime stages of their ripeness. Although this method of harvesting is very time consuming, we have chosen it since it is the only method that can guarantee that the highest quality of olive fruit is selected (the most healthy, fresh and sound olives are picked). Through this method of careful and strict selective hand picking of our olives we avoid injuries, damages and bruising of the olive fruit that occur when these fall from the trees, something which causes tartness and oil acidity. We strongly believe that “Great Olives make Great Olive Oil”.

After Harvest: After Harvesting, the olives are carefully placed into special big baskets, designed in order to protect them from any damage. The olives are then washed and the leaves and debris are cleared away so that nothing else remains inside the baskets apart from the olives. In order to preserve their freshness and obtain a very high quality olive oil, the olives are taken to the mill and are pressed within a few hours (less than 12 hours) from when they are harvested. If there is any delay, the oil in the fruit begins to oxidize and become acidic.

Cold Extraction Method: Our Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil is produced with the cold extraction method at temperatures that will not degrade the oil (less than 27°C), by centifugation of the olive paste without further processing (no chemical processing and under very strict quality controls) in order to maintain unchanged its organoleptic and nutritional properties as well as its taste and fruitiness. It is important to mention that the olive oil extraction temperature is of crucial importance due to the effect it has on the quality of the olive oil. When high temperatures are applied the more volatile aromas of the olive oil are lost while the rate of oil oxidation is increased, producing therefore lower quality oils. Additionally, due to higher temperatures, the chemical content of the vitamins, polyphenols and antioxidants present in the oil is reduced.
Olive Oil Storage: After extraction, our extra virgin olive oil is placed inside stainless steel tanks without oxygen. These tanks are placed in rooms that are below ground level (away from sun beams and heat) that maintain a constant temperature (between 13-15°C) favouring the optimal preservation of our olive oil.

Bottling: When the day arrives that Freshline Gourmet Extra Virgin Olive Oil is to be bottled, the oil is very gently filtered in order to remove any natural residues that may exist in our tanks. Our oil is bottled periodically based on orders received in order to maintain a constant temperature and guarantee its freshness to each and every one of our customers. The oil is entered exclusively in dark glass or tinplate cans in order to block out ultra-violet light so as to preserve the maximum amount of its nutritional and organoleptic properties. Lastly, our bottling is done in modern units in accordance with a food safety and quality management system, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

Total Quality Control: Our Food Experts inspect and closely monitor each and every step of the production and processing cycle steps of our Extra Virgin Olive Oil. From methods of cultivation of the ground soil to bottling our olive oil, it is ensured through a system of continuous control that the strict requirements of our quality control division are constantly met at every level, in order to be able to proudly bring to our consumers’ tables an extremely high quality and genuine product worthy of their best dishes.

Company Website: I.C.B. Services Ltd
Where to Buy: Freshline Gourmet

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Picnic Perfect Recipes

No picnic would be complete without these pack and go perfect picnic recipes. Celebrate the lovely weather with these salads and sandwiches and take these delicious bites outside.




Monday, August 19, 2019

Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History










































Hemp, eucalyptus and the opium poppy have been around for centuries. Learn how these plants had a profound impact on the modern world.http://bit.ly/1BTFkvE

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

You can protect your hair from sun damage....

ALTERNA Bamboo Beach 1 Minute Recovery Masque ($29, various salons)

 This hair mask takes only a minute to restore your hair’s natural softness and shine during your after-sun care routine.
 Formulated with eco-certified bamboo and Tahitian coconut, your hair will smell wonderful and feel even better.